I'd read that it was going to be a 4.6L V8, obviously not the Ford engine
but a new Hyundai V8.

Scott W.

It probably is only automatic, no manual trans.
Hyundai used to have poor quality, but they have improved in the last few
years.

Yet another Mustang "competitor" without a manual tranny.  Yawn.

The Hyundai pony car needs a V-8 to succeed, IMO.  We have seen the
concept of a sports car with a strong V-6 time and again from Toyota,
Nissan etc. and it has failed.  If the car has a large bang-for-the-buck
quotient like the Mustang GT then it will sell.  Hyundai has come leaps
and bounds from its early days and is now one of the best made car
brands sold.  The new Genesis shows me they can read the market here in
the USA and provide an excellent car for a very good price.  Look for
that car to sell like hot cakes.

Opinions?  On the Usenet?

Mine:

First, you are talking about the Genesis coupe, not the sedan as other
posters have linked to. The coupe was originally rumored to have a V8
but the packaging won't work so it will be a six.  Here's a Car &
Drive link:

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/hot_lists/high_performance/concept_central/h
yundai_genesis_coupe_concept_auto_shows

Mustangs must always have V8's.  The Probe thing settled that.  If
they pull the V8 from the Mustang they will lose the market they now
monopolize and they will not attract any rice boys.

A Hyundai does not need a V8. The rice boys actually disdain V8's. An
actual conversation I had with a couner monkey at the local Kragens:
He and another monkey and another customer were talking about some
damn Honda build and I merely stated the obvious, that it costs a lot
of money to get power out of small fours and the same performance is a
lot cheaper with a V8.  Monkey #1 says, yes but you can get more from
a Honda.  "It's called pressurized induction," says he.  I guess this
guy never considered that you can also throw a blower on a V8 and the
more all-motor hp you start with the more blown hp you'll end up with.
I did not share this insight.  It's a lost cause.  Point being, these
guys -- who are the target market for this new Hyundai -- have this
incurable blind spot, that somehow big cubes are a bad thing.

Another ricer story:  I'm down at my neighborhood horse track and the
ricers are running an autocross in the parking lot.  A guy comes over,
mainly to tell me I'm parked in a bad spot. But he also mentions about
a Civic 2-door that's going by on the course, that it's got an Acura
engine and it's owned by a Honda tech and it's got 280 hp at the
wheels.  Well that's pretty impressive from a 2-liter, and one pulling
less than 3000 lbs.  But still, 280 rwhp is hot stuff?  Yawn.
Probably cost more than a 450 rwhp small block.

This new Hyundai will not make much of a splash. The WRX and the EVO
are at the same performance level and while they're in the $30,000
range they still are selling nowhere near the levels of the original
Mustang.  A Hyundai for $5000 less will do no better.  Ford sold 1.2
million Mustangs in the first two years of production, when the US had
about one-half the population it has today. I did this calculation
once and found that one of seven (or maybe it was one in 11) new cars
sold in '65-'66 was a Mustang.

I would not advise Ford or anyone to stop producing a product (the
GT500) that is selling for $5000 over MSRP, in favor of a small volume
GT40 or Shelby Cobra sportscar.  I wonder if Ford made money on the
GT?   Gussied up Mustangs, however, are a guaranteed money-maker.  If
your customers are buying a performance variant of a mass-produced
model, at prices of two to four times the price of the base V6 model,
why would you want to deny them that opportunity?

Car buyers are such babies today that you can't make money with a low
price, low weight de-contented sports coupe.  Everything must have a
bank vault feel, no rattles, crashing sounds, or ride harshness, and
65 dbA road noise at 75 mph.  So you either settle for low price and
low weight and with a mild motor that doesn't require big weight to
deliver the bank vault feel, or if you want the high torque high hp
you've get the big weight and the big price tag.  I have a '65 Mustang
fastback and believe me no one would accept such a POS today.

180 Out

Actually, the original Mustang was not really intended to be a
performance vehicle. A large percentage of the early models were 6
cyl. And the parts came largely from other models, like the Falcon and
Ranchero as I recall. Sporty? Yes. Performance? No.

So, if someone owns and original 6 cyl Mustang, with a bench seat, do
we say it's not a Mustang? Not a Pony car?

Just my 4.5 cents (inflation :0).